miss havisham

I do not have to agree with everything you believe. You do not have to agree with everything I believe. We can still be friends.

[Declan Ganley @declanganley]

The late great Ann Widdecombe defending free speech at the Oxford Union. This is worth your time.

[Basil the Great @BasilTheGreat]

Everyone today criticising Ann Widdecombe for having deeply held Christian values would never say a word about Islam

Cowards, all of them.

[🙏🌧🌍 @godblesstoto]

The absolute last thing Ann Widdecombe would have wanted is for her death to be used as an excuse to clamp down on free speech.

Fuck off you opportunistic ghoul.

[Tom ✝️ @CrossAndCaptial]

This whole, Ann's family have called for people to not make this political.

Who are Ann's family?
Mum and dad long gone.
Brother died in 2010.
Doesn't have kids.
Her nephew, Roger, stood next to Nigel when he made his statement.

So who are the "family" they're talking about?

[Rafe Heydel-Mankoo @RafHM]

3 days ago, I paid tribute to Peter Whittle, not as a "final tribute", but simply to thank my friend on the 20th anniv. of the New Culture Forum

Alas, Peter's death has now been announced

And so, I post my speech here: https://t.co/PaoJ0QLuue

We've lost a great & decent man.

[david lawrence @DavidSocialX]

@Iromg Come on @TalkTV, @Iromg is not stupid so why would he post something that could end his career?

[Mike Graham 🇬🇧 @Iromg]

On Sunday night my Facebook was accessed and a vile message was posted on my page without my knowledge. It contained words that I would never write and an opinion I don’t share. As soon as I found out I immediately deleted the post and have taken steps to ensure my cyber security is enhanced. Obviously I am mortified that such a post could have gone out in my name and am now attempting to find out how it could have happened. I am equally very sorry for any distress it has caused to anyone.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.

I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days.

Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.

However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.

When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.

The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.

Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?

I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.

The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest.

Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.

[Western Dominion @WesternDominion]

@libsoftiktok Every single one of these ‘leaders’ has failed their own country, but they’re united for Zelensky.

Tells you everything.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Listen to this
https://t.co/9MEWR8kyEF

[kouji 🇯🇵 @yoyonofukuoka]

The Japanese girl studying English is so funny that I can't help but laugh along with her.🤣🤣🤣

[𝕄𝕖 🫟 𝕄𝕪𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗 🫟 𝕆𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖 @MeMyselfOnline]

A few weeks ago, the company I work for issued compulsory "training", including statements such as:

“Remember, if Cathi is trans, saying ‘she used to be a man’ isn't accurate. Trans women are women, and they've never not been a woman”.

I shit you not.

So I've waited till today, when the company hosts one of its quarterly meetings with all the top brass across several sites, in person and online, to read out a statement on exactly what I thought of this “training”.

I made reference to the precedent set when @MForstater won her appeal in June 2021, and levelled an accusation to the entire company that they are indirectly, and possibly directly, discriminating against all its employees under the protected characteristic of their freedom of belief.

You could have heard a pin drop. At first.

The result?

HR is now bricking it. The training is no longer compulsory. They're taking matters under review, and I've had so many hugs and messages off support from my female colleagues. My boss shook my hand.

It isn't easy speaking up. I've been very nervous till today. But as @ThePosieParker keeps telling me: if not me, then who? If not now, then when?

I think it was important that someone saw a gay man stand up and defend the women he works with, and send a message that this absurd nonsense has no place being forced upon us.

I've sure I've made plenty of enemies at work today and pissed numerous people off.

And I'm glad. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat because it's simply the right thing to do.

[Neil Oliver @thecoastguy]

Here we go.

[Robin Monotti @robinmonotti]

Can we stop the Oasis psyop now please? Nobody is falling for it. There is nothing "Cool Britannia" about Starmer & his minions.

[Disaffected @DisaffectedPod]

WATCH NOW
EPISODE 171: CULTURE CRUSH
BLOCKED BY YOUTUBE so tonight's episode will be an X exclusive. @elonmusk

[Dr Aseem Malhotra @DrAseemMalhotra]

In my view this man needs to be held fully accountable and if found guilty for lying he must be punished accordingly including jail time.

[Jack @FFS_WhatNow]

Envelope containing dismissal letter; WHITE!

[Carl Benjamin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @Sargon_of_Akkad]

The first domino has fallen.

[Oli London @OliLondonTV]

Female boxer withdraws from competition after learning she would face transgender male, just hours before a fight.

Canadian boxer Katia Bissonnette withdrew over ‘safety concerns’ upon learning she would be forced to face a biological man.

The two had been due to face off in the 2023 Provincial Golden Glove Championship in Victoriaville, Quebec.

After withdrawing, the trans male
was automatically declared the winner as the competition organizers could not find another woman to fight the male.

The female boxer had cited safety concerns for her reason for quitting the match referencing a study by the University of Utah which found that men can punch 163 per cent harder than women.

Source: Daily Mail

[Andrew Bridgen @ABridgen]

A petition to end the UK’s membership of the World Health Organization.

Please sign below ⬇️

https://t.co/e6LYAEayGQ